The five-storey Kompleks A carpark has lifts and there is a two-hour limit when parking on the ground floor.
After over a decade, Petaling Jaya residents’ request to allow them to park on the ground floor of the Kompleks A multistorey carpark has finally been granted.
Effective end of June, Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) will allow the public to park their vehicles for a maximum of two hours on the ground floor of the complex in Petaling Jaya New Town.
For years, 69 parking bays with two bays for the disabled at the ground floor were reserved for city council staff. The public were required to park their vehicles on higher floors.
Parking for MBPJ’s staff as well as those with monthly season parking access has now been moved to the higher floors.
The five-storey building, which has a total of 420 parking bays, is installed with lifts.
MBPJ councillor Derek Fernandez said the city council’s finance committee approved the motion to open the parking bays to the public.
“Businesses in the New Town area have suffered since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We hope by making it convenient for the public to park and do their shopping quickly, and they will come more often to support the businesses here, ” he said.
In the past, the public generally did not favour parking on higher floors and having to walk up or down the narrow and steep stairways, he added.
Section 6 Rukun Tetangga chairman Rajesh Mansukhla was glad that the city council had finally responded to residents’ requests.
“MBPJ must understand the carpark was built for the public in the 1980s and it was never intended for city council staff.
“I am glad the ground floor is now vacated for public use, ” he said.
Section 10 Residents Association chairman Ronald Danker said the approval to park on the ground floor, for two hours, would encourage more senior citizens to use the facility frequently when going to the bank or buying food in the area.
Long-time Petaling Jaya resident Johan Tung was glad that the spirit of the Petaling Jaya community and ratepayers had prevailed after so many years.
Eileen Thong, a former SS20 RT chairman, was delighted when she heard the news, especially with the two-hour parking time limit.
She said there was a dire shortage of parking, not only in the New Town area but all over Petaling Jaya.
“Even in residential areas where I live, businesses such as eateries, bakeries, hair salons, offices and grocery stores attract many vehicles and the lack of parking bays resulted in haphazard parking.
“I proposed to my area councillor to implement this maximum two-hour parking.
“I have seen such practice in cities such as Melbourne and it helped alleviate parking problems to a certain extent.
“I hope the city council will implement this maximum parking limit in other busy business areas too, ” said Thong.
